


Perfect Arrangement

by Rose_Bride



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arc V Rare Pair Week 2018, Awkward Dates, Belligerent Sexual Tension, F/M, If you wonder about the setting, Marriage of Convenience, Matchmaking, google search for marriage dates please, this is something I've been thinking about for a while
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 16:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15223481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_Bride/pseuds/Rose_Bride
Summary: Rin has a problem: she has a date.And she is going to do everything in her power to ruin it.





	Perfect Arrangement

She doesn’t understand…

Nothing works with this guy, nothing seems to faze him. Rin out of tricks, usually by this point the guy has already left or made a scene, giving her a way out for leaving herself.

But not this time.

When she arrived to the meeting place, completely underdressed – This time it had been a pair of faded pink shorts and a worn out blazer instead of the blue gown her ‘father’ had suggested – he had not reacted in the slightest to her own outfit, how could he? When he had apparently beaten her to the punch by appearing wearing white slack pants, a blue sweater, and a red scarf, a _scarf!_ in the middle of summer! Who does that?

The high and mighty Reiji Akaba apparently because when they arrived to the restaurant the waiter made absolutely no snide comments nor did he throw any dirty looks, only bowed his head and lead them to their seats.

The best table at the place actually.

When she ordered a soda pop instead of water, he only nodded even after she asked for a straw with it and ordered coffee for himself – Coffee? At night? Really? – then when she pulled out her phone pretending to play with it, intent on ignoring him she noticed from the corner of her eyes how he was doing the same!

Except he was actually doing some calls, not pretending like her.

When they were given their drinks and she prepared herself to order the most expensive thing in the menu, she stopped… it was a measly salad and would something like that put on dent on someone who could walk into the best restaurant of the city wearing casual clothes? Probably not, so she chose the most ‘common’ dish on the menu, a burger, and made sure to ask to the waiter very loudly if she they had fries or chicken nuggets to add on the side.

Still nothing, he waited patiently for her to finish and ordered something that sounded like french giving her little idea of what it was.

The food would take much longer to arrive and she tried to kill time slurping on her drink as noisily as she could, even drawing the attention of the people in the table closest to them and still the only time she got a reaction from Reiji was when she finished it:

“Would you like to order some more?” He still had his phone on his hands but his eyes were staring directly at her.

It had been impossible to see them with the glasses and the dark outside but now she could see they were purple; she’d never seen purple eyes before.

“Maybe later…” Rin was at a loss of words, by this point no matter how polite guys seemed to act, they had all given her some clue as to what seemed to annoy them the most about her, whether it was a twitchy eye, a falsely nice comment, or just plain complaining; but even as she was still under his stare she sensed absolutely no judgement, annoyance or disgust coming from it.

Should she play the ‘clingy’ card and start moaning on the fact that he was being inattentive to her? But she had never seen herself on the need to do it, Rin wasn’t sure she could pull it off and convince him of it after all her previous behavior.

No, she would have to be nosy instead, that was something she was – or was at least she was told – very good at, and for some reason it seemed one of the many ‘undesirable’ and ‘unladylike’ traits of her that she ought to correct.

“I can’t help noticing you making what appears to be business calls,” His hand finally let go of the phone and placed it on the table, he adjusted his glasses before answering her.

“I apologize; I will stop if it’s bothering you.” The tone of his voice didn’t give out anything either.

“Nah, I’m just curious, I was told that you were still studying,” Like her, she thought, granted he was a couple years older than her, but still not old enough.  “I had no idea you were involved in your family’s business yet.”

“Ah, I have been involved since I turned 16, just not officially, my parents tell people I’m ‘studying’ because technically that is what I’m doing: studying the inner workings of the company.”

“Until you take over I’m guessing.” She said feeling a bitter taste in her tongue; of course people like him, ‘true’ heirs were groomed at early age.

“You could say so,” He paused, his eyes narrowing the slightest bit before continuing. “What about you Miss Rin? I assume unlike me; you are actually studying.”

Of course he assumed that, she thought grinding her teeth.

“First of all, I’d like if you stuck to just ‘Rin’, secondly, yes, you are correct, I’m studying Mechanical Engineering.” When she said these words, he blinked, and when his eyes fixed on her again, she _finally_ felt something from his end, a new atmosphere surrounding them.

Was this… interest? No, it couldn’t be.

“I see, Mi-,” He backpedaled just in time. “Rin, that is surprising to learn, nothing on your profile seemed to indicate such thing, a truly challenging and competitive career path you have chosen.” Of course he would think that, like everyone else who thought she was just wasting her time doing so.

“It is, even if it’s just my first semester, we already have a project to build as our final evaluation, it’s very time consuming to come up with a design, figuring out the synergy and calculus of it, it has taken a lot of me lately,” And she could be spending this evening catching up to some reading for her classes, she expected he noticed the annoyance in her voice at what she had to say at least. “especially with other… duties in my life.”

She waited to see what his reaction would be when she saw something flash across his eyes – although she wasn’t sure if it was the glasses or not – but of course he chose that moment to take another sip of his coffee.

Then he chuckled…

There was something definitely wrong with him.

“I understand what you mean, frankly I feel the same about this whole situation.” He had the gall to throw a smile at her and Rin felt a full frown set on her face.

“Don’t say that.” She thought for a moment about adding ‘please’, but she discarded the idea and to his questioning look she added: “Don’t try to make it look like our situations are the same, or that we are at the same level, because we are not.”

To his credit Reiji kept proving himself to be a master at hiding his reactions as the only thing he did was locking his hands together in front of his face, the gesture did nothing but remind her to her father.

 “Is that so?” He started and somehow Rin thought there was anew edge to his voice that wasn’t there before, maybe she had finally hit the jackpot. “It seems you judge people too easily.”  

“We all do that; it’s what people call first impressions.” Rin couldn’t believe he had the guts to act as if she was the offending party.

“Fair enough, then, have you finished your assessment of me?” He asked and something in his eyes made a chill run down her spine.

 “Arrogant, self-absorbed, double-faced, hypocrite…” He wanted to hear the truth? He’d have it. “You seem to think it’s a terrible thing to do, but aren’t you doing the exact same thing?” Rin wasn’t going to tear her eyes away from his now.

“I see,” Even now he didn’t seem angry or affected, somehow she had the feeling that behind his hands he was smirking. “Is that a request for my assessment of you?”

“Actually? No, I’m not interested in your opinion of me.” And she truly wasn’t, at all. “The only thing I want to know is what your interest on this marriage meeting is? Why haven’t you left? What do you get out of this?”

After she finished her questions the waiter arrived with their food, and Rin had to swallow her words only until the guy left, if a disturbance was caused by her, the employee would take the brunt of it and she didn’t feel like having that in her conscience.

Instead while the table was settled she took her time to look at him, like, really look at him, he looked exactly like his profile picture showed him, but there were a couple things a camera couldn’t capture: his height, his broad shoulders, his stance and even the aura he gave, a strange combination of practiced stuffiness and ease.

When they were left alone again, he addressed her again.

“To answer your questions with a single answer: I see this marriage meeting, and every one of them as business, where we can hopefully reach an agreement of mutual benefit.” When he finished he adjusted his glasses and seemed content with his answer.

Too bad the feeling wasn’t mutual.

“And you think a marriage like that can last?” Maybe Rin was the one being a hypocrite now, but even then…

“Quite the opposite, I think it’s the only type than can last.” She felt her eyes narrow at this.

_‘I understand now…’_

“I see…” She had a hard time pulling the words together, even if she knew exactly what she wanted to say. “That too bad because I’m not interested in a shallow relationship like that.”

_‘…Why is it so hard to talk to him, it’s because he’s the type of person…’_

“Shallow? I think it’s a matter of perspectives,” He stopped to take a fork and knife, taking a piece out of what looked like a sort of steak, she took a bite of her meal too, half-tempted to do it messily, just to see what he made of it. “After all to expect to found a life-long commitment on something as mercurial as feelings… that I would consider a shallow relationship.”

“Then, I suggest you find someone else to hire as a _‘wife’_ for you.“ She said taking another bite before adding. "I wonder if leading a life like that makes you happy?”

_‘…That I hate the most.’_

ᴥ

_‘Happy...’_

Flattery, high expectations or even outright bribes, those were all pretty common things he is used to deal with, however, nobody had ever asked such an outlandish question, the answer should be pretty obvious for everyone, including himself.

Why did he find himself at a loss for words then?

_‘Hire a wife?’_

From a certain perspective that was not a wrong interpretation, but still… he had heard the rumors about her difficult character before, no matter how much the matchmaker tried to hide it, his mother had off-handedly shrugged the same concerns, probably exasperated at his own difficulties at finding a proper match after he had already gone through the rooster of eligible and ‘respectable’ ladies that she knew about.

But it seemed he made an error of judgement, thinking she was looking forward to secure her relatively unsteady position as heiress.

After all she had effectively shut him up for the remainder of their meal, the only sounds were the cutlery on the food and plates and the music coming from the dancing hall not too far away from them.

“Would you like to dance?” He asked an idea blooming in his mind and saw her stopping mid-bite to stare at him with narrowed eyes.

“You don’t look like one for dancing, especially not dressed like that.” That was rich coming from the girl wearing an ensemble brought from a fleet market.

“I could say the same.” Normally he wouldn’t be this sarcastic, but something about Rin prickled at his most… childish impulses.

“…Touché.” She said standing up without him prompting her and much less taking his hand until they arrived to the dancefloor and she allowed him to grab her waist without protesting, if anything she looked bored.

He couldn’t blame her because Rin had not been wrong to point out he wasn’t one for dancing, but he had to take themselves out of the table where they had started to attract some attention with their banter.

They both moved in automatic steps, probably looking as uncomfortable as he felt.

“To answer your last question…” He started and he felt her tense. “No, I’m not happy, not yet anyway, I’m not happy with the way things are at Leo Corps, and I will not be happy until I manage to change them.”

Reiji allowed himself to drink on her look of surprise, while not classy or elegant in the usual way, he would lie if he say she was not very pleasing to the eye, there was nothing in her that indicated soft curves and smiles, and there was an… icy quality to her eyes that he couldn’t quite place.

“Then why taking an interest in me? I’m certain there’s nothing I can provide for this plan of yours.”

Why indeed.

“I admit my mistake on thinking we were on the same page about this situation, still, you shouldn’t sell yourself short Rin, there are other commendable traits I look for on a wife than monetary assets.” After all he already had plenty of that. “For example, strength of character, ambition, honesty, intellect… among others, if I cared for none of those I would have simply accepted the first candidate thrown to my person.”

“You realize that I want nothing with marriage at this point of my life right? Not with you or anyone, it’s nothing personal.” Yes, he knew that.

“I gathered that much, I myself don’t wish to take such decision before I have something else to offer than a name and flimsy promises of happiness.”

“You don’t make sense… marriages dates are to speed up well, marriages.” The music ended and they stopped, but still didn’t move. “And you yourself mention the impatience of your mother.”

“You’ll find engagements are very effective for stalling marriage, my mother will be content with that for the time being, as long as I don’t waste my time, she will not interfere.” And he knew her father wouldn’t press for anything more until he had the marriage secured, by the time came and if all went according to his plans Rin would be considered an adult though.

“You sound as if you already made a decision.” Rin crossed her arms, her eyes scrutinizing him, as If looking for faults in his statements.

He was familiar enough with Divine to know that was a valuable asset as well.

“I will not force any decision on you, if that is what you are implying. “She motioned for them to walk up to the bar, to avoid getting on the way of the other dancers he supposed.

 “It is not what I meant, I meant that I need more than one date to truly make my mind about something as lifelong commitment as you put it.” For the first time in the entire night she was not glaring daggers at him, if anything it looked as if she was making an effort to keep eye contact.

It didn’t fit her; he thinks he prefers the sharp edge of her eyes.

“Of course.” He said nodding. “Do you wish for us to end this date? It’s getting quite late and I imagine you are due to school tomorrow.”

“I am, thank you for the evening.” She smiled at him and he felt himself smile in response too.

It was funny really, what she said about first impressions, because while he misinterpreted her intentions…

Reiji was glad he had been wrong, even if the first one had him unable to tear his eyes from her glossy and soft-looking green hair and golden eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Usually I post all my week fanfics in a single story, but because I'm gonna be late with the others then I prefer to post them separately now.  
> in this AU both Rin and Reiji are forced to partake in marriage dates, Rin makes her best to ruin all of them, Reiji doesn't intentionally do it, but he has certain expectations and no one has met them... until now.  
> Reiji is heir to Leo Corps and Rin is an illegitimate daughter who was "recognized" with the sole purpose of using her as bargaining marriage chip.  
> She's 18 and Reiji is soon to turn 20.


End file.
